I like trading, I want to make money by trading, but from what I read on ET, people lose a lot first.

My question is: How much should I expect to lose before I make money?

Any ideas?

More...

Depends on how much you bet. My Mom can play the nickel slot machines all night and only lose $20 because even though its almost random with the house having a slight edge, the stakes are small. I can lose a couple hundred at the blackjack table in a few minutes even playing textbook blackjack because I play for higher stakes.

You don't have to lose anything to start...there are stock simulators...just google them.

But if you're pig-headed like me and you insist on using real money, like I did, then just open a small account, make sure that your transaction costs are low and trade, read, refine, trade, read, refine. You'll lose money at first, and maybe forever, because the house has an edge with transaction costs. But if you're bright and you work hard, you'll start to move ahead.

Man, I can already foresee that this will open at least two cans of worms (more like leeches if you ask me).

BTW, the question isn't so much how large you'll lose before turning the corner but how much older you'll be by the time you're able to stand on your two feet. Be sure to commit at least 3 years to learning.

In order to even consider trading seriously you must have a naturally higher risk tolerance than the average person. However to trade successfully you need to develope a conservative and cautious risk tolerance yet still be able to trade. Basically that means you can expect to be mildly successful when you change your risk instincts. You may be stubborn and never tone risk down resulting in infinite failure. You may slowly tone it down over years or you may tone it way down all at once and then work up. You can expect to constantly lose until you find that balance.